Men's Basketball Hosts Holy Cross Monday on CBS SN, Orange Out Declared

What: Holy Cross (11-6, 2-2 PL) at Bucknell (9-7, 3-1 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa. | BUY TICKETS
When: Monday, Jan. 14, 7 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

• COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Happenings

Pregame Chalk-Talks with Head Coach Nathan Davis: Head coach Nathan Davis will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the opponent scout during his pregame chalk talks for select games again this season. The pregame chalk talks are OPEN TO BACKCOURT CLUB MEMBERS who donate at the $500 level or higher (must be in current fiscal year, July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019) and take place in the Graham Building just inside the lobby. They begin one hour prior to tip-off, and doors to the Graham Building open 75 minutes prior to tip-off. The games and chalk-talk times remaining this year are: Monday, Jan. 14 (Holy Cross - 6pm) and Monday, Feb. 11 (Lehigh - 6pm).

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Jimmy Sotos (9.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 6.1 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (15.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.3 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (9.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.8 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (9.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.7 apg)
C: Nate Sestina (16.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.1 apg)

With a Win over Holy Cross, Bucknell Would ...

Build its first three-game winning streak of the season and improve to 10-7 overall and 4-1 in the Patriot League.
Move a half-game in front of Lehigh for first place in the Patriot League.
Defeat the Crusaders for the fifth straight time and move to 43-29 all-time against them.
Improve to 174-56 all-time at Sojka Pavilion and 125-26 against PL foes at Sojka Pavilion.
Improve to 285-118 all-time in Patriot League play and 110-27 in the PL over the last nine seasons.

Headlines

Bucknell concludes its three-game homestand, all coming in a five-day span, when Holy Cross visits Sojka Pavilion for a nationally televised game on Monday night.
Saturday's one-point win over American, coupled with Lehigh's loss at Colgate, created a tie for first place in the Patriot League between the Bison and Mountain Hawks. Both teams are 3-1, and then six teams sit one game back at 2-2.
The Bison matched their lowest point total of the Nathan Davis era on Saturday, but won anyway. The Bison pulled out a 55-54 win over American thanks to a strong defensive performance and two big 3-pointers from Nate Sestina in the final minutes. It was the first time Bucknell won a game when scoring fewer than 60 points since Feb. 11, 2015 at Navy (52-51).
Bucknell has had a knack for coming from behind this season, and the Bison are 3-1 in the Patriot League despite a -2 scoring margin. Bucknell has won a game after trailing by 10 or more points six different times this season, including all three PL wins.
Senior guard Kimbal Mackenzie is on 1,000-point watch. He is five points shy of becoming the 43rd 1,000-point scorer in team history.
Senior center Nate Sestina has lived up to his Preseason All-Patriot League billing thus far. The Bison are 9-5 this season with Sestina in the lineup — he missed the Fairfield and Canisius games with an injury — and he is averaging a team-best 16.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Sestina, who served as the backup center behind former Patriot League Player of the Year Nana Foulland for the last three seasons, was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Diamond Head Classic. Sestina was last week's Patriot League Player of the Week after averaging 24.5 points and 10.5 rebounds against Army and Boston University. His 27 points against the Terriers was a career high.
Bucknell is looking to continue its run of success following the graduation of one of its all-time great senior classes. The trio of point guard Stephen Brown, forward Zach Thomas and center Nana Foulland were all First Team All-Patriot League selections last year, and they accounted for 4,801 career points. Despite the heavy graduation hit, four of Bucknell's five opening-night starters managed to start at least 10 games last season. And the only one that didn't — Nate Sestina — was a Preseason All-Patriot League selection.
Last season, Bucknell finished 25-10 overall and 16-2 in the Patriot League. The Bison swept Loyola, Boston University and Colgate — with the latter two wins coming by a combined 60 points — to win the Patriot League Tournament crown. Bucknell's eighth NCAA Tournament appearance resulted in a narrow 82-78 first-round loss to third-seeded Michigan State in Detroit.
Holy Cross comes to Lewisburg with a Patriot League-high 11 overall wins against six losses and a 2-2 Patriot League record. The Crusaders dropped Lafayette 77-70 at home on Saturday, behind a 25-point game from Preseason All-Patriot League center Jehyve Floyd. Jacob Grandison (15.2 ppg) is one of four Holy Cross players scoring in double figures, followed by Austin Butler (12.4), Caleb Green (12.3) and Floyd (10.9).

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Holy Cross game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network. Jason Knapp (play-by-play) and Mo Cassara (analyst) will describe the action from courtside at Sojka Pavilion.
The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong calling the action. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Live statistics can be accessed at BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Nate Sestina hit the tying and go-ahead 3-pointers in the final minutes of regulation, and the defense took it from there as Bucknell held off American 55-54 on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison held on for the win as Sa'eed Nelson's long 3-point attempt at the buzzer rimmed out for the Eagles.
Sestina tied the score at 52 on a triple from the left side with 2:43 on the clock. After American missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and the two teams traded misses, Sestina took a pass from Jimmy Sotos on the left wing, hesitated as a defender flew past him, and then swished another 3-pointer with 1:17 to go that gave the Bison the lead for good.
Sestina scored a game-high 14 points for the Bison, while battling foul trouble throughout the game. Bruce Moore recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, and Jimmy Sotos logged 10 points, six assists and four rebounds.
The Bison found a way to win despite shooting just 39.2% from the field, 5-for-19 from the 3-point arc, and 10-for-18 from the foul line. American came into the game leading the Patriot League in scoring defense (67.2) and 3-point defense (.280) while ranking second in field-goal percentage defense (.411).
Defensively, Bucknell held American to 35.6% shooting overall, including 4-for-17 from long distance (0-for-7 in the second half). The Eagles also left some points at the free-throw line, finishing 8-for-14.
Bucknell outrebounded American 37-35, led by Moore's best-ever game on the glass. It was the second-highest rebounding total by a Bison this season, trailing only Sestina's 16 against St. Bonaventure in the season opener.

Bison Are Kings of the comeback

Bucknell has now erased a double-digit deficit to win a game six times this season, including an epic 26-point rally in the win at Army on Jan. 2.

Opponent Deficit Result
at St. Bonaventure 13 (52-39 with 12:13 left 2nd half) won 88-85 (OT)
at Vermont 13 (36-23 with 18:06 left 2nd half) won 69-61
vs. Rhode Island 11 (38-27 with 2:38 left 1st half) won 84-82
at Army 26 (39-13 with 19:42 left 2nd half) won 64-63
vs. Colgate 13 (27-14 with 10:44 left 1st half) won 84-81
vs. American 10 (28-18 with 6:06 left 1st half) won 55-54

And then there were these near-misses:

Opponent Deficit Result
Fairfield 15 (36-21 with 1:30 left 1st half) Bison tied game with 0:09 left, lost 58-56 on shot with 0:03 left
at Ohio State 11 (69-58 with 4:28 left 2nd half) Bison had last-second shot in air to win game but lost 73-71

Bucknell vs. Holy Cross
The Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry has been one of the league's best through the years. Some of the highlights:

The Bison and Crusaders have combined to win 11 of the last 18 Patriot League titles.
These two teams have met 15 times in the 28 Patriot League Tournaments, with Holy Cross winning eight and Bucknell seven. That includes four times in the championship game. Bucknell defeated Holy Cross in the 2005 and 2006 title tilts, while the Crusaders topped the Bison in the final in 1993 and 2007.
The Bison and Crusaders had never met until the formation of the Patriot League in 1990-91, but this will be the 72nd meeting in 29 years.
Bucknell leads the series 42-29. The road team has won just 10 of the last 26.
Bucknell is 22-11 against Holy Cross in Lewisburg and 15-5 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 16-15 vs. Holy Cross at the Hart Center, with one of the wins coming in the 2005 Patriot League championship game.
The Bison have swept the Crusaders in each of the last two seasons. A year ago, Bucknell won 77-56 at home and 68-67 in overtime at the Hart Center.
Zach Thomas led the way with 18 points in last year's meeting at Sojka Pavilion. Avi Toomer had a strong game with 10 points in 16 minutes off the bench. Austin Butler and Jacob Grandison tallied 13 apiece for Holy Cross.
In the rematch in Worcester, Bucknell outscored Holy Cross 2-1 in overtime to take the one-point win. Nana Foulland had 21 points, and Zach Thomas and Stephen Brown 15 each for the Bison. Jehyve Floyd paced Holy Cross with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Numbers Worth Noting

Senior Kimbal Mackenzie has a knack for taking charges. He drew four offensive fouls in the La Salle game on Dec. 4, and he has a team-high 13 drawn charges this season.
Sophomore Jimmy Sotos struggled in the turnover category early in the season, but over the last nine games, he has 61 assists with only 19 turnovers.
As a team, the Bison rank 35th nationally in assists per made field goal (.587).
Sophomore Paul Newman has played well in the first extended action of his career, and he has emerged as one of the Patriot League's top shot-blockers. Newman ranks third in the league with 1.6 blocks per game, even though he plays just 15.5 minutes per game. Newman averages 4.1 blocks per 40 minutes.
Sophomore John Meeks has provided a big lift since returning from injury at Ohio State on Dec. 15. In eight games since coming back, Meeks has totaled 51 points (20-35 FG) and 19 rebounds in 103 minutes. He averages 19.8 ppg 40 minutes.
Bucknell's shot chart from the La Salle game was a statistical analyst's dream. In a game in which the Bison scored 92 points, all 29 made field goals were either dunks (6), layups (12), or 3-pointers (11). In fact, Bucknell did not attempt a 2-point shot outside the paint all night.
Bucknell's non-conference schedule was ranked as the 77th-hardest in the nation, according to statistical analyst Ken Pomeroy. Bucknell's 12 non-league foes combined for a 260-141 (.648) overall record and a 144-70 (.673) mark within their respective leagues last year. Nine of the 12 teams won at least 20 games, and 10 of the 12 had winning records.
Bucknell went 3-0 against the Atlantic 10 this season. The Bison averaged 88 points per game in wins over St. Bonaventure, La Salle and Rhode Island.
The Bison have been a slow-starting team but also a very good second-half team for much of this season, both offensively and defensively. In the first eight minutes of games this year, the Bison are 60-for-160 (.375) from the field. But they shoot just under 48% percent while holding opponents under 40% shooting in the second halves.

First Half Second Half
Points per game 31.4 39.8
FG% .417 .481
3FG% .340 .379
FT% .648 .747
Opponent PPG 36.9 34.9
Opponent FG% .465 .396
Opponent 3FG% .386 .257
Opponent FT% .741 .733

Mackenzie has played all 80 second-half minutes in league play thus far, while Sotos has played 77 and Sestina 74 of the 80.

Who's Got Next?

Next up for the Bison is a trip to Lehigh on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game at Stabler Arena.

Men's Basketball Hosts Holy Cross Monday on CBS SN, Orange Out Declared

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

John Meeks

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

Men's Basketball Hosts Holy Cross Monday on CBS SN, Orange Out Declared

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

John Meeks

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

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